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tinleyjunction.com life & arts
the Tinley Junction | May 9, 2019 | 23
The Dancing Noodles celebrate 35th anniversary
Amanda Del Buono
Freelance Reporter
Not many area musicians
can say they have
played with former Eagles
guitarist Joe Walsh or were
complemented by the
members of The Mamas
and the Papas.
They also probably
cannot say that they have
been playing together for
the past 35 years. But the
members of the Chicago
area’s The Dancing Noodles
can.
The self-described party
band is celebrating its 35th
anniversary this year. The
band — which plays timeless
R&B, Motown and
soul music — was formed
in 1984 by a group of area
musicians looking for a
fun project that would get
people off their feet and
dancing.
“We actually played
our first job, specifically,
35 years ago last Saturday,
[April 27],” Dancing
Noodles keyboardist
and Tinley Park resident
Ed Kammerer said. “Everybody
in the band was
a veteran musician from
the Chicago music scene
[or] the Champaign music
scene.”
The Dancing Noodles
eventually came together
via the members’ previous
bands and connections
with area musicians,
as well as local DJs, such
as WLUP’s Roman Sawczak,
who was a founding
member of The Dancing
Noodles.
“At that point, [all] we
wanted to do was to play
music that was danceable,
that was positive,” Kammerer
said. “We didn’t
want to do stuff that was
like broken heart-type
songs or anything like that.
So ... 90 percent of the
music was Motown. We
played Temptations, Four
Tops and Jackson 5, and
it caught hold, because the
band was good, the music
was good. People started
coming out a lot. So then,
the DJs on WLUP, who
all knew Roman because
Roman worked on Steve
Dahl’s radio show...the
radio DJs started talking
about The Dancing Noodles
and coming to see us,
and all of a sudden we’re
setting attendance records
at bars and festivals, even
all around the Southland.”
Through these connections,
Kammerer was
joined by Lemont’s Terry
Canning and Orland Park’s
Brian Sarna, who remain
members of the band to
this day, along with Kammerer.
“When The Noodles
came along, the idea was
just to have fun with it and
play rock and soul music,
and it took off,” Canning
said.
When Sarna was recruited,
he was excited to play
the songs from the 1960s,
with their own rock-inspired
edge, he said. It was
something no one else was
doing and a project with
which he could have fun.
“How could I not do it?”
he said. “It was an easy
choice for me.”
Throughout the years,
life sometimes got in the
way, but that didn’t keep
The Dancing Noodles
from playing when they
could, despite holding fulltime
jobs and raising families.
The band has gone
through several iterations,
with various individuals
playing in the wind section
and stepping in to take
the place of those who had
to leave for a time, Kammerer
said.
“The longevity came because,
well, life interferes
with everything, and some
of us at some points would
leave the band and then
come back,” Kammerer
said. “Our drummer, Terry
Canning, and bassist, Brian
Sarna, they’re the ones
who kept it together.”
Canning said the band
went through an evolution,
with more members at
some points, but it always
stayed true to its R&B,
Motown and soul roots.
Despite the time that
has passed, the music has
remained the same. And
those who see The Dancing
Noodles play still love
it, Sarna said.
“It’s just so much fun,”
Sarna said. “The songs we
do are timeless. It’s such a
fun party band. We were all
trying to be rock stars back
in the day, and when that
failed, it was like, ‘Hey
man, we’ve got this talent,
and let’s just have some
fun.’ That’s really what
the whole thing was about,
and then, all of a sudden,
it’s 35 years, and I’m like,
‘I probably wanted to quit
20 years ago, but the guys
are so good and it’s just so
much fun.’”
He added that the bond
that the musicians formed
on stage also has been the
key to its longevity.
To celebrate the 35th
anniversary, The Dancing
Noodles played a special
show at the Beverly Arts
Center on Saturday, May
4, in which several previous
band members and
friends played alongside
the group. During the
show, a projected slideshow
showed images
of the band throughout
(Left to right) Ed Kammerer, of Tinley Park, Roman Sawczuk, Kevin Fabish (in the
middle of the pack) Paul Martin, Brian Sarna and Terry Canning of The Dancing
Noodles are celebrating their 35th anniversary. Photo submitted
the years. Additionally,
they showed congratulatory
videos from their old
friends, such as Kevin
Matthews and Steve Dahl.
With more than three
decades under their belts,
the three core members
said they are not ready to
set their instruments down
just yet. To the contrary,
Kammerer said that the
band’s popularity is growing
again. In fact, the band
will be opening for Smash
Mouth at this year’s Chicago
RidgeFest.
“It was super fun back
in the day, but now it’s
even better,” Kammerer
said. “Our opinion and our
thought has always been
that if we couldn’t deliver
the product to the point
that we were happy with
it, then it would be time to
hang it up, but at this point
in time the band is still as
good as we were. We’re
also having a good time,
the people who come out
to see us seem to be having
a good time, so there’s
Keyboardist Ed Kammerer, of Tinley Park, performs
with The Dancing Noodles at Beverly Arts Center
for their 35th anniversary on Saturday, May 4. Laurie
Fanelli/22nd Century Media
no point in the immediate
future that we’re planning
on pulling the plug. Plus, it
keeps us young.
“I can speak for all of
us in saying that we’re
blessed in having a second
job doing something we
love that we completely
enjoy.”
Sarna added, “I say we
keep going until health
gets us. Like I said, because
of the genre of music,
the party band aspect,
there’s not a lot of pressure
on us. The gigs come to us,
and that means these people
want to have a good
time. So, I think we’ll keep
it going for a while.”
For more information on
concert dates, visit www.
thedancingnoodles.com.